CRAFT: Cutting

Working on developing this further… hopefully much further

VIDEO: Three Songs

Here is the continuation of work I have been doing for R&S Records and Lakker. Apart from making the video I had the privilege of singing with the wonderful Silver Kites who are sampled on the song featured below.

DESIGN: Lakker

I completed work on this album cover and was also sampled on a few of the album tracks. Looking forward to this release by the talented Lakker.

MUSIC: Golubka

The other day I got two much sought after hours to sit and sing. I’m trying out Ableton Looper at the moment and although it doesn’t give me the liberty that my old Looper did the sound quality is much better.

I just started to sing and this melody popped out. I tried to improvise other loops but I couldn’t get this little tune out of my head, so I’m posting it!

MUSIC: Duerme…

I’m in Berlin and have within the first week, managed to miraculously make some music… …however brief it is!

MUSIC: Come and Play

Here is another little loop I created using recordings of my own voice. Hopefully I will have more time to blog full time soon…

DRAWING: Together

Finally finished this drawing of paper! I make most things as gifts for specific people but not sure what to do with this one.Unless I start a series of them? I’m going to frame it and see what happens…

DRAWING: Bad Idea Good Idea

I am way behind on certain presents due to people. But I can tick this one off the list. Made for my wonderful cousin who herself makes magical prints, I wanted to draw something real yet abstract in meaning. Like so many frustrating ideas that get crumpled up, I thought I would use this imagery literally and crushed some paper in order to draw it. That in itself took a little while… one has to get just the right amount of crush and no-crush and an interesting shape to want to draw this for a few hours. Hope she likes it!!! And thank you IKEA for your lovely affordable frames.

MUSIC: Humming

MUSIC: Wowzers

I entered a remix competition because it was to remix a Gregorian chant sung by New York Polyphony. My cup of tea… I really enjoyed taking a break from work in order to sing over this lovely piece and to give myself a little challenge. As I thought the end product was not shabby I sent in my entry.

I am chuffed! that New York Polyphony chose my piece to receive the the “Grand Prize”, as they call it on Indaba, who ran this particular remix competition. To have vocal professionals of this caliber choose my piece is so wonderfully encouraging.

I have to thank all of my friends and friends of friends and family and friends of family who voted for my piece and made it one of the top ten pieces. Could not have done it without them. They are winners for their cooperation, enthusiasm and online savoir faire.

Here is the piece.

CRAFT: 90th Colours

It’s Auntie Lil’s 90th Birthday and I made her, what I think is an appropriate card for her age.

MUSIC: Flutey

And here is my fluting effort, with a video of first footage shot using my lovely lovely gift, a Zoom Q3HD. Thank you generous gift-givers. You know who you are.

DRAWING: Work In Progress

Just playing with some ideas. It’s not right yet but I’d like to combine Japanese Origami folds with some small detailed drawings. The drawing here is too heavy handed and dark but I did it as a quick test to see how it would look. Will keep experimenting.

MUSIC: Guitaring

I have acquired a guitar and a flute… on loan. And I thought I would use them with my little rough looper. Not actually trained in either instrument the results are naive at best. So here is my guitar singy-thing I improvised today. I also decided to lash a quick video together in case it got aurally boring. I must have been feeling creepy… Flute effort to follow.

DRAWING: Hand

I drew this for my fabulous friend Mark Garry. If you don’t know his work check it out. Like these beauties posted on Atelier A+D.

It was his birthday a while ago and I wanted to give him something special as he has been so good to me. It’s my hand in the drawing… going by the state of it you would reckon I am a thousand years old, but that’s just the filtering I used on the photo.

CRAFT: Last Card For Little While

Here is the second and simpler card commissioned.

CRAFT: Another Card

So here is another of my commissioned cards. One more to go, which will hopefully be finished in the next couple of hours.

DRAWING: Inking

Some of the anatomy is squiffy, to say the least! but I enjoyed inking. Think I will do more of this but will try inking my own work next.

DRAWING: The Gift That Inadvertently Keeps On Giving

Weird… a couple of weeks ago I remembered this drawing I did in about 1993. I had enjoyed it so much. I vividly remembered the upper right hand corner of the drawing as I really got lost capturing the hair during this copying exercise. The photograph was stunning so it was easy to stare at it for hours.

I then remembered that years later I thought I had given it to a friend as a gift and then rudely asked for it back, possibly to insert into a portfolio. (Memory is not my strong suit). After that I didn’t have a clue. I certainly did not think I would see it again.

But yesterday, my brother gave me a gift. He took out a black framed picture and flipped it around to reveal that same drawing. I was gob-smacked, because in my reminiscing about this drawing I had also wondered would I like it as much today as I did then. It has imperfections and has been handled, rubbed and smudged since that long-time-ago. But yes, I do still like it. And it’s just lovely to think that someone so thoughtfully took it, mended it and framed it for me.

Let’s forget that I gave it to my friend so as not to complicate matters. Are you reading this? Do you know who you are? Can I keep it please?

And finally, I cannot for the life of me remember who it is. I vaguely remember a book about Blue Note album covers, but that is all I have to go on.

MUSIC: March

In March I brought a mic outside to our back yard and recorded the birdies and the lady I can often hear laughing and chatting away, always with the same giggly enthusiasm. I used it as the basis to a piece of music and thought I would try to do a similar piece a month. But it’s now May and I have only just finished this March piece. So I will have to be more realistic about time frames. However, I like the premise and process that lead to this piece so hopefully at the end of next winter I will have my own four seasons, of sorts…

March 2011

CRAFT: A Gift

I was asked to make a 60th birthday card for someone special. And this is what I ended up making. I love detailed tedious repetitive tasks and therefore thoroughly enjoyed creating this owl with a sewing needle, some nice card and a lot of patience. I have two more cards on order so I will post these at the end of the month when they are completed.

DRAWING: Boo

This was done quite some time ago, but I wanted to add it to my teeny collection of drawings. Her name is Boo.

DRAWING: Old Drawing Of Mine

DRAWING: Abandoned Effort

I have been trying to draw something each week. A few weeks ago I thought it would be good to draw things I don’t like drawing but that I thought would be good for me. Bad idea… It was just too boring and you can tell. The drawing lacks spirit or inventiveness, I made mistakes and I gave up. But I’m posting it, warts and all. New project in mind for drawing exercise will contain 100% motivational yumminess because I really want to finish it. Bear with me… (my Mum hates it when people say that)

MUSIC: Sending Letters To The Sea

So, I really have had nearly two months of not singing AND a lack of laptop for last couple of weeks. So in order to get back into things I set up looper and bashed out a few loops. Here is first very easy listening mush that came out.

DRAWING: Drawing

So… I am trying to draw regularly again. After many many many years. It’s daunting, scary, annoying, frustrating but I gots to stick with it. I will post my attempts in an effort to try harder and harder to improve and feel happy about my drawing skills, as I once did, when I was a young girl in college… alas, oh so long ago.

Music: Nocturne

I found this nocturne and became obsessed by it. I recorded myself singing the first line to listen back to my attempt then stumbled upon it months later and out of interest reversed it, then echoed it and reverbed it A LOT. I think it is still as haunting… might do the whole piece out of curiosity?

Music: New Tunes

Did this track with Dara Smith from Lakker and my brother Sean remixed it acoustically for Diatribe Records, check it out!